


The Sparrow and the Eagle

by nambnb



Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, M/M, Mind Control, Murder, Oral Sex, Revenge, Same-Sex Marriage, Sexual Content, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-04-23 17:56:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4886257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nambnb/pseuds/nambnb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mink and Koujaku and how they came to live with each other and some other stuff...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Musing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalikuks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalikuks/gifts).



Often, it were the little things Mink grew fascinated with about Koujaku. Like how he could stand in a corner of the room and simply look beautiful. Right now he was spending his time flipping through Mink's books in search of something that might pick up his interest on this lazy Sunday afternoon.  
Koujaku's raven hair was embellished by some red and violet feathers Mink had braided into it. It had grown longer as time had passed by and was currently done in a braided ponytail hanging down his back adorned by some more feathers and a red ribbon streaking through it. Koujaku, being a hairdresser, was particularly picky when it came to what Mink was allowed to do with his hair. But ever since he had met with Mink again in his homeland and had seen that not only were Mink's dreads gone in favour of now wavy, long hair, but that Mink was capable of doing things with his hands other than punching people half-dead - using his fingers to create something instead destroying it - Koujaku had been more willing to allow Mink to touch his hair.

Hair aside, Koujaku was not one of these girly-looking, pretty-boys in Mink's eyes. He was handsome enough to be called that, but obviously manly enough not to be confused with the opposite sex. Koujaku's charms lay in something different than his looks for Mink, even if it was certainly no drawback that he was pleasing to the eye.  
He had the charisma of a leader and had used it to form the Rib team Benishigure in Midorijima then. It was a small group, but well-liked by the islanders - most likely due to helping out the townsfolk and Koujaku's success in charming literally every female by doing their hair. Now that Koujaku had come to live with him, Benishigure had a new leader. His name was Hagima, if Mink remembered correctly; some broad-shouldered, good-natured guy who hadn't left enough impression on Mink to visualize his face. He was only known to him by Koujaku mentioning his name, when he told him about how his team was doing nowadays, after having his usual phone calls with his old team members from time to time. Mink vaguely recalled having seen the guy in tow with Koujaku while patrolling the streets. It didn't matter to him much, though. The only thing important to him was that Koujaku had decided to be by his side.

Mink let out a low chuckle, that ended up in him letting out his breath through his nose.  
He probably should be thanking the maniac for this turn of events, even if he felt a little bad considering Koujaku's circumstances.

 

The hairdresser had told Mink that he had been in love with his childhood friend Aoba for the longest time and that the blue-haired mullet-guy was practically the reason Koujaku was still alive even after a gruesome event in his past had taken place. But Koujaku had never dared to make a move on his best friend and during the chaos unfolding around the events of storming Platinum Jail to bring down Toue, Aoba had fallen in love with the lanky nerd-guy in their group of all people. Afterwards, following a longer hospital stay, Noiz had vanished for months, but it had become clear to Koujaku how much Noiz meant to Aoba from how often Aoba had visited him then already. During the period Aoba couldn't see him, Koujaku had realized how much Aoba missed Noiz, and his already existing hatred towards the blonde kid had almost reached its zenith - it was only watered down a bit by the fact that Noiz had saved Aoba's life when Oval Tower had fallen. Still, Koujaku couldn't stand Noiz. He had disliked him on first sight already, but then the brat had managed to win Aoba's heart only to seemingly break up with him with no explanation given. And then Noiz had returned three months later and had had the nerve to take Aoba with him to his home country. Turned out that he was some rich kid from Germany and had a well-going business over there, too.  
Koujaku's whole world had shattered to pieces on that day, but to Mink's luck he hadn't managed to drink himself to death or to be bludgeoned, but had remembered Mink's invitation to come live with him in his homeland.  
Mink had not been sure if it would be a lasting decision on Koujaku's part at first, seeing how all of this had just looked like Koujaku trying to run away from the pain by leaving the island.  
But quite some time had gone by now and Koujaku was still here, so Mink had grown to believe in him staying by his side.

 

Thinking about all of these things made Mink want to touch Koujaku, as if he needed some reassurance that the other was really there. So he walked up to him and embraced him from behind, nosing his shoulder and then placing soft kisses on the crook of his neck.

"Hm?", Koujaku turned his head in his direction as he put another book he had deemed to be not to his taste away, and placed a hand on top of Mink's with a smile. "What is it, Mink? Wanting to cuddle?"

"Maybe."

"Eh...?"

Mink's murmured retort had been meant to rile Koujaku up a bit and judging by the way the hairdresser blushed and looked flustered, he had succeeded. Grinning to himself, Mink buried his nose in the crown of Koujaku's hair and took in his scent.  
Below the actual smell of shampoo and Koujaku's hair, there was a conflicting smell stemming from his soul. It spelled insecurity mixed with something that could be confused with brimming self-confidence, but was more of a burning, lingering desire bordering on menace. It was like something utterly mad lay hidden beneath Koujaku's skin, but it also turned Mink on due do its forbiddenness.

But judging by what he knew about Koujaku's past by now, he should not touch upon that subject if it was avoidable. It was something literally carved into him, not just into his soul, but into his skin, taking on the form of an enchanting tattoo winding itself around Koujaku's body and shackling him by its mere presence.  
The tattooist, who had put it on him during Koujaku's childhood was something like Toue was for Mink: a being to be eradicated from this world due to the anguish it had caused.  
That was one thing the two of them had in common: a past bathed in blood and sorrow by the loss of their loved ones and the burning desire for revenge.

Thinking about this brought Mink's thoughts back to the time when Oval Tower had fallen.

 

There had been a great deal of confusion upon the whole incident. His men had planted explosives in the tower's basements, but the tower's main system had gone crazy on its own. More than that, the people inside of the tower had even been warned to evacuate, leading to most people getting out unscathed, including most of Toue's personnel. Mink could care less about some scientists or doctors, even if his memories of them while being caught in Toue's prison weren't the fondest ones. But his main objective was to murder the man, who had been responsible for the slaughtering of his tribe, his family and friends - Toue.

After the tower had been blown up, there was no way to tell whether Toue had been amongst the people surviving the building's collapse by fleeing the scene, or if he was lying dead underneath some rubble. Plus, urgency had risen when the police and rescue teams had arrived at the scene. When only Noiz and Aoba had made it inside Toue's playground legally by using an invitation to get in earlier, Mink's team had succeeded in bribing the police to be let into Platinum Jail. But there was no telling if they would overlook the presence of a gang made up of ex-convicts in the midst of a terror attack on Oval Tower, the headquarter of the most wellknown citizen of the island. In short: they had to scram.  
Mink had taken the possible run of his target into consideration before attacking Toue's tower, therefore he had men positioned at all ports and airports and had instructed them not to let Toue off the island by all means, should they get sight of him. And Mink had made sure to pick people for the job, who hated Toue with a passion for what he had done to them, making it more likely for them to kill Toue than to be bribed or persuaded by him. Of course this didn't exclude the possibility of Toue using some kind of mind-control on them. Mink was sure the singing robots had become unusable when the tower's main systems had been destroyed, and he had equipped his men with ear plugs and contacts capable of defying mind-controlling lights and songs anyway. But Toue was like a hard to kill weed and the possibility of him slipping through Mink's fingers even after all of what he had planned for years to get rid of the man was still there.

Only days after the tower's collapse a newspaper report finally managed to ease Mink's tension. The topic was hot enough, that the newspaper agency had even allowed the usage of a photograph showing Toue's dead body - or rather that what could be seen of it amongst some rubble - shackled to some rail of the emergency staircase leading down from his office. The article stated that his corpse had even been taunted by somebody, who had written "Bye, bye daddy" on his now distorted face with a waterproof marker. The only person known by the public to be something akin to Toue's "son" however was a pale, young man already reported to have died by being buried underneath a ton of debris. He had been found in a room formerly located next to Toue's office and had not been even close to the staircase then. Plus, Mink remembered the guy to have been obedient towards Toue to a fault, whenever he had appeared in one of Toue's TV spots. Not to mention that he had always looked like he had not been in the best physical and psychical state, making it hard to believe that he could disobey Toue and ridicule him even in his death. 

Two other people in Toue's services came to mind then, some fake-blonde non-twins, with one of them particularly fond of the phrase "bye bye", if Mink could trust his information dealers. Even if they had worked for Toue like some kind of yakuza or kidnappers, it didn't have to mean that they were loyal to him. In fact, it wouldn't surprise Mink if they were the kind of people to act like rats leaving the sinking ship, but demanding their captain to go down with it. As far as the "daddy"-title went, Mink faintly remembered to have seen some kids roaming the laboratory floors during his time in Toue's clutches years ago, when he had tried to get his secrets out of him by force. So maybe Toue had grown himself his own enemies. Mink couldn't hold back a satisfied grin at the thought that being the truth.

Not being a man who trusted the media much, though, Mink had gone so far as to locate and infiltrate the mortuary where Toue's dead body had been kept. The fact that Mink had indeed found his foe's corpse inside of the mortuary refrigerator, added to Toue's body not being in the best kind of state with his cause of death and the characteristical y-shaped cut from his autopsy, had finally led Mink to believe beyond doubt that Toue was as dead as could be. Staring down at the dead piece of meat that once was a human causing grief to Mink's tribe, and who knew how many more people out there, didn't entirely sate Mink's hunger for revenge. But it wasn't like he was up to maim Toue posthumous or anything. He was dead and that was the end of it. Mink just wished to have been the one delivering the finishing blow to the man, but death had found him without his help.

Mink had not been surprised that no feelings akin to happiness overcame him then - death was a serious matter, whatever cause might lead a man towards it. But Mink hadn't even felt relief or anything along those lines. He had just felt emptiness inside himself  
He had no longer any goal to pursue, no reason to hold onto life now, that the cause of all his anguish was no part of this world anymore  
The only thing his mind had worked on then was whether he should take his own life right next to his enemy, or in some area secluded from everyone else.

In the end Mink had left the morgue and had walked aimlessly through the streets in the Northern district, which were surrounded by nothing but abandoned buildings. He had just wanted to find a place to think matters over, when all of a sudden an ear-splitting roar had echoed through the air.

"Ryuuhouuu!!"

It had been like the howling of a beast, but the voice had sounded somewhat familiar to Mink. Before he could decide whether to find out what had caused this blood-curling scream, or not however, a man in a blue kimono had already dashed around the corner and bumped into Mink, causing the guy to fall to his knees upon the impact. The voice's owner had immediately followed him.

It had been Red.  
No, rather, it had been red.

This was the leader of the Ribsteez team Benishigure, Koujaku, at least it should have been him, judging by his red kimono and the characteristical sword he swung around. But other than that not much had reminded Mink of the hairdresser then.  
For one, his raven hair hung loose and had begun to turn crimson from the tips upwards and the colour appeared to eat its way upwards steadily. His usually red eyes had turned white, looking almost dead, yet fiercely alive with tinges of red around their edges. His kimono had been shrugged over his shoulders, leaving his upper body bared, but the odd thing about this was a peony tattoo coiling around his left arm and a tribal tattoo around his right one, both having a reddish glow about them. The flowers even had seemed to eat away at Koujaku's skin, or rather claiming more and more of it. Koujaku was known for being capable in fighting, but even so his muscles had appeared to be more pumped up than Mink had thought it to fit Koujaku's built. The general appearance of the man just had spelled "wild beast".  
And the prey this beast was pursuing had looked like a fox to Mink. Nevermind the necklace and bracelets made up of skulls - they weren't real but tasteless all the same. What was really intriguing about the blonde man was the fact that he had been capable to send Koujaku of all people flying into a such a state of rage.

When the stranger had attempted to flee the scene, Mink had simply caught him by the neck of his blue kimono and had kept him from running away, so he kept struggling against Mink's hold - to no avail.

"What's the deal here, Red?", Mink had asked Koujaku, who hadn't appeared like he was able to go into much detail in his current state of fury, but Mink still had wanted answers.

"I'm gonna kill! I'm gonna kill! I'm gonna kill that guy! Give him to me!", Koujaku had screamed back at him topped by a snarl and then taken a fighting stance, ready to kill the man, if Mink kept holding onto him or not.

Mink had been able to sense that Koujaku was dead serious then, but still had voiced another question.  
"Is this guy responsible for that state you're in right now, Red?"

"He's beautiful, isn't he?", the voice of the man Mink had kept hold on poured out between chattering teeth. But the way he had spoken indicated that he had either lost his marbles already out of fear, or was just some kind of crazy bastard enjoying his homemade death scenario, while he was about to foam at the mouth.  
"All that rage magnificently coming forth on his body. It's superb! Wonderful! If you just would let go of me, so that he can take another step further, it will be perfect."

Ryuuhou had looked up to Mink pleadingly, but with such a mad grin on his face, that Mink had only answered him with a deathly glare. Apparently not satisfied to be denied his wish, the guy then had tried to prick Mink with some kind of needles, produced from who knew were, which had only led to Mink tossing him away like garbage - in Koujaku's direction.

What had followed hadn't been pretty to look at. Koujaku mercilessly pierced him with his sword until all that was left of the artist formerly known as Ryuuhou was just a mess of blood and flesh. His dying words had been something along the lines of "It's not finished yet", but Mink had been sure whatever "it" was, it was very finished now.  
The only real problem for Mink then had been, that Koujaku wouldn't return to his old self immediately afterwards. Mink had to punch some sense into him, avoiding his sword and even his fingernails, that had grown to that of a beast's. But Koujaku hadn't fought him with much technique back then, it was more brute force and anger, making him somewhat unpredictable at times, but clumsy compared to his usual self, so Mink had been able to knock him out after a while.

Mink's way of deciding what to do with his life then had made a turn, or rather his way had been dented by the fact that he had taken care of a very unconscious Koujaku at Scratch's headquarters for quite some time afterwards.  
First, Koujaku wouldn't awaken from countless nightmares shaking him up during his sleep. At times the tattoo glowed brighter then ever, at other times it seemed to subside again. Mink had no means to help Koujaku, other than to mix and light some incense for him and to try fighting his fever, whenever it had come over him; preparing cold, herbal compresses for him and making him drink some herbal tea. Koujaku wouldn't respond to Mink trying to shake him awake or trying to instill fluids from a cup, so he was left to do it mouth to mouth - Mink didn't care much about that, it simply was a means to an end.  
Mink had often wondered during that time why he had even decided to help Koujaku in the first place. It wasn't like he had held any kind of special feelings towards the other man then, but he had been uncomfortable with the thought of leaving Koujaku to just die in some unknown street of Midorijima, where even his own people might not come looking for him. Maybe it had been the fact that Mink knew that Koujaku had people he could return to after taking his revenge on that guy in the blue kimono. There was no point in him dying, Mink had thought, so he might as well help him in getting better. Whatever state he was in then, Mink had hoped he would be strong enough to overcome it.  
About a week after Koujaku had beaten the lights out of Ryuuhou, the tattoos coiling around his body had finally stopped glowing and the red peonies had retreated to decorate just Koujaku's back. His hair had returned to its original, black colour as well and the tension keeping his muscles and his whole body in its grasp seemed to have left him as well.

Koujaku had woken up to Mink pressing his hand down to his forehead to check his temperature to be on the safe side, and had promptly paled to the sight and let out a choked scream. Mink had smiled at him then, not improving Koujaku's condition by the act, and had told him that the worst seemed to be over.  
Koujaku had been a confused mess, who had to be told what had happened by Mink, followed by Scratch's leader demanding answers for his behavior and him turning berserk.

What Koujaku had reluctantly but dutifully told him then, had sounded awfully similar to Mink's own memories: agonizing screams of people in a panic, blood everywhere, and a maniac killing them all. The worse part for Koujaku, though, was that he had been the one doing the killing and not the one on the sidelines watching it all happening, contrary to Mink.  
But Mink could understand his pain - he might not have been able to do so, hadn't he been a witness to what Koujaku had been turned into due to the tattoo on his back done by Ryuuhou - as Koujaku filled him in on. But a person's mind having been controlled by somebody else, this, too was something Mink had experiences with. Koujaku had also told him, that apparently that tattooist had been in cahoots with Toue as well, acting on his command when he had put the tattoo on Koujaku's back as some kind of test during his childhood. Koujaku had only found Ryuuhou by chance, seeing him on his way through the Old Resident District headed towards the airports after having stopped at the Black Needle for some kind of reason. Then the desire to kill him had overcome Koujaku and his reasoning had switched off.

When their talk had been over, Koujaku had thanked Mink for saving him and told him that whenever he would be in need of a favour from him, he should just ask.  
Mink had thought to himself then, that this day was very likely to never come, though, but he had just nodded then and said goodbye to him.

 

Saving Koujaku had delayed his decision on what he was going to do with the fact that he was still alive, but it had also led to Mink using some old recipes for incense and medicine he had remembered from the days when his tribe had still existed. With that, a yearning for his home country had risen within Mink, that had only grown stronger as time passed, and even if he still wasn't sure what he should do, returning to where he came from seemed like the right thing to do then.

Only a few days later Mink had boarded a plane towards his homeland, leaving his Rib team and Midorijima behind him. The only thing he had left had been a message for Koujaku, reading, that if he ever should feel the need to leave everything behind himself, he was invited to come to his place. Mink hadn't been sure why he had bothered to do this, maybe it had been the feeling of having met a kindred soul sharing the same burden or something. Mink hadn't even known whether he would still be on his journey towards death, or whether he would have already reached its end by the time Koujaku would answer his invitation - if ever.

But roughly three months later, Koujaku had contacted Mink via the address he had left for him, asking if his offer still stood and Mink had simply answered him with a yes.  
Days after that, he had collected Koujaku from the airport and when a week had passed on then, Koujaku had finally spilled the beans concerning the reason why he had felt the need to just leave everything behind him: His heart had been broken, and feeling the monster inside of him stir, when he had fallen victim to his rage, had frightened him. And since the only person he had remembered to have ever been able to handle even that side of him, he had run over to Mink's place faster than he had been able to understand it himself.

Koujaku had never said when he had planned to return to Midorijima and Mink didn't bother ever asking him about it.  
They spent their days with Mink having found a way to keep the memory of his tribe alive by making crafts and selling them at a store and Koujaku joining the local hairdresser's shop and soon gaining popularity even amongst the townsfolk otherwise quite suspicious of foreigners in their midst.

 

Thinking about it now, Mink couldn't pinpoint the exact time when it had started, but living side by side somehow had led to not only sharing the same roof, but the same bed as well. Koujaku hadn't been the one taking the first step, but hadn't rejected Mink caressing his hair, or his lips or his body in general, once he had begun kissing him.  
On most occasions their love-making was gentle and comforting at first and then turned into a hot affair. But there were times when the beast inside of Koujaku would try to break through its boundaries from within, stirring inside of him and needing to be subdued, to be reminded that somebody was by Koujaku's side, who had managed to deal with it once before and would most likely succeed in doing it again.

Mink let out a sigh and tickled Koujaku's ear with his breath, as he still held him fast in his arms from behind.

"Really, what's the matter with you today?", Koujaku asked him in an irritated voice, but Mink only hugged him tighter.

"Just thought about the fact that you are precious to me."

Koujaku's blushing cheeks deepened in colour and he turned his head to place a kiss on his lover's temple.  
"The same goes for me."


	2. Pondering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still for [Kalikuks](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kalikuks/works%0A)!

Hagima punching Koujaku in the gut full-force would have had the same effect like the mail he had sent him just now.  
It was a photo of a written invitation to Aoba's wedding with none other than Noiz, sided by the message, that Hagima and Kou had been invited as well and intended to attend the ceremony.

The colour had left Koujaku's face instantly and he re-read the message for about a dozen times, until the image of the invitation had etched itself into his retina. As his brain processed the information, he tried to swallow and gasped for air, but didn't calm down in the least, if anything he panicked even more.

Mink found him like this, coming from the kitchen with a freshly brewed cup of coffee in hand. Not asking what it was, that had reduced Koujaku to a shivering, gasping mess, as he still stared down to the virtual screen of his coil, Mink went over to him, placed his cup of coffee on the nearby table and gently, but insistently guided Koujaku to take a seat on the couch with him.

"Calm down, Red. Take deep breaths, follow my lead."

He lined up his ribcage with Koujaku's back as best as their sitting position would allow it and sucked in the air audibly, moving their bodies together in a slightly rocking way as if he tried to soothe a child.  
After a while, he could feel Koujaku relax and recline against him, so he patted his head as if he was praising him, and reached around the other man to hand him the cup of coffee.

"Now tell me, what has happened, Red."

Koujaku looked at him like a beaten dog and took a small sip of the steaming hot beverage before answering him.  
"I got an invitation from Aoba to attend his wedding."  
He lifted his wrist to make the message with the photograph attached to it pop up above his coil again in front of Mink, so the other man could read it.

Having understood the content of the message, Mink began to stroke Koujaku's hair, when he asked him the obvious question: "Are you going to attend it?"

"I don't know."

Koujaku's voice had sounded flatly and timidly and Mink tried to recrate Koujaku's thought process leading towards it.

 

They had begun living together for about a year now. But when Koujaku had left Midorijima then, he hadn't been sure how long his stay with Mink would last, so he had kept his apartment in the Old Resident District and had asked his friend and now leader of Benishigure, Hagima, to inform him, should any mail for him arrive. His coil had been set to forward any messages and phone calls arriving on his old number to his new one over at Mink's place, too. All of this made it look like Koujaku was still living in Japan, when in truth he had been abroad this whole time. It had been supposed to be a bridgeover for the time being only, but Koujaku had decided to stay by Mink's side eventually.  
Therefore he had asked whether Hagima or Kou would like to move into his old apartment in his stead. Both of them had been thrilled to take Koujaku up on his offer, involuntarily leading to Koujaku learning about the two of them being in a romantic relationship with each other at the same time. Telling Mink about the news had led to him discovering that the new input had come as something unexpected for Koujaku. Yet it had apparently not surprised him much at the same time, since both of the Benishigure members had always worked well together and had seemed to be close. Koujaku had even seemed to feel relieved to have somebody inside of his old team, who would probably understand his situation with Mink, even if he had not dared to tell even them about his relationship with Mink yet either. The only thing they knew about Koujaku's current circumstances was, that he was abroad and on a journey to find to himself or something along these lines. To be honest, in the beginning his relationship with Mink had really been close to that.

Apart from this, Koujaku had asked them to keep his name on the door plate should any mail for him arrive, because Aoba liked to send him gifts from Germany from time to time. Often it was food, sometimes just souvenirs from the places he had visited with Noiz. But now it had been a handwritten invitation to their wedding. Normally, Hagima would sent Aoba's stuff over to Koujaku - if reasonable, considering the state of the goods. But this time his friend probably had feared for the card not to arrive on time at Koujaku's new address, so he had solved the problem by simply sending him a picture of it.

That mere fact must have triggered various thoughts inside of Koujaku's mind, Mink guessed.  
For one, his best friend would marry somebody Koujaku hated with a passion to this day, their vows binding them together forever. For another, Aoba still didn't know that Koujaku was no longer an inhabitant of Midorijima island. This correlated with the fact, that Koujaku's relationship with Mink was a secret to Aoba as well. So if Koujaku were to tell him about one of these things, the other one would follow as a result. Alternatively, it might slip Hagima's or Kou's mouth during the ceremonial occasion, even if they only knew half of it.  
Attending Aoba's wedding was like a coming-out on Koujaku's part, at least that was, what Koujaku feared - Mink could read it in his eyes.

Now, if you went to your best friend's wedding, when said best friend was going to marry another guy, being in a relationship with a man yourself probably wasn't the worst position for you to be in. That was, if you weren't known as Midorijima's number one ladies' man and had been in love with this very same best friend of yours for years, who might suddenly see your friendship from a whole new perspective now. Maybe Aoba might even ask Koujaku, if he had ever harbored romantic feelings towards him. And should that happen, even when only meant as a joke, Mink worried which impact this could have on Koujaku.  
Aoba rejecting Koujaku's unspoken feelings by choosing Noiz over his best friend had ultimately driven Koujaku into Mink's arms. But it had been a choice full of self-loathing and fear, nothing Mink wished for Koujaku to be reminded of.  
Plus, society still forced you into their stereotyped thinking. If you were in love with another guy, you had to be gay or bi or maybe pansexual, but that was about it. It didn't matter, which complexity your feelings for another person had reached, or if it was a body or a mind thing.You were brandished with some kind of tag and seen as something out of the norm, period.

 

Mink nuzzled Koujaku's temple before placing a kiss there.

The wedding invitation had stated "plus one guest", if Mink remembered correctly. So he guessed Koujaku was worrying himself sick about whether he should ask Mink to come with him or not on top of everything.

"Red", Mink finally broke the silence that had settled between them while minutes ticked by as if they were stretched to hours, "if you want me to go with you, all you have to do is ask. If you wish for it, I'm fine with just escorting you to the place where the ceremony is held and to wait for you outside until everything is over, without anybody ever seeing me. It's your best friend's wedding, it won't come again, so I think you should go. But I don't know Aoba that well, so I don't have to attend it. However, if you need me", he embraced Koujaku gently, reassuringly, "I'll be there."

Koujaku choked at his words a little. Mink seldom talked this much, usually letting his actions speak for him instead. That he had chosen to tell him all of this now underlined how important it must have been for Mink to be understood clearly. And Koujaku's chest tightened at the thought, that Mink only had to look at him and could read him like an open book. And even if that meant, that he could see Koujaku's nastier sides as well, he was still considerate towards him and offered him a way out of his self-made labyrinth of conflicting feelings.

"Mink", he gasped, putting one hand on top of Mink's on his belly and used the other one to stroke through Mink's hair, "I'm sorry, that I'm so pathetic."

Mink smiled and gave him a short hug, before he untangled himself from Koujaku and got up to head towards the kitchen.  
"Drink up before it gets cold."  
That said, he went to brew himself another cup of coffee, leaving Koujaku alone with his thoughts for the time being.

 

Koujaku inwardly cursed at himself. Here he sat, worrying himself stupid about maintaining his image and didn't have the balls to simply ask his lover, if he wanted to come along with him, which was practically the same as denying having feelings for the man in the first place. And yet Mink was nothing but kind to him.

What was he even afraid of?

So yes, the fact that Mink was a guy and not a girl would be awkward when introducing him to Aoba as his lover.  
And because his friends didn't know what a kind guy Mink truly was, there probably would be weird stares headed their way, too. Big deal, if the person for whom it really mattered knew perfectly well, how things were in actual fact.  
There was no shame in being in a relationship with Mink, Koujaku thought. The only shameful thing here was that he even had to think one second if he actually should bring Mink along, when this question shouldn't even exist in the first place.

 

When Mink re-emerged from the kitchen and was only about to spare Koujaku a glance to check how he was doing and intended to let him think in peace by leaving the living room to him again, Koujaku called out to him.

"Hey, Mink!", he waved at him to come over and flashed him a smile, "Do you own a suit?"

Mink blinked, and Koujaku believed to have seen gladness flitting over his features for a moment, before the taller man snorted and walked over to the window, where he took a sip of his coffee, turning his back to Koujaku.  
"Asks the man whose whole wardrobe is practically located on another continent."

"Gah...!"  
Koujaku blushed at the remark - he certainly had only taken the bare minimum of clothes with him back then. And even after redirecting some items later on, most of his belongings were still located on Midorijima island.  
But this meant that he had to fly over to Japan before visiting Aoba in Germany, right? This was surely going to let the expenses for attending the wedding soar to unbearable heights. And him arriving on Midorijima with Mink in tow surely would lead to all of Benishigure instantly knowing about his relationship with him, too. Aoba was one thing, but Koujaku didn't know if he was ready for this yet.  
His head began to spin again.

Mink gave Koujaku a brief look over his shoulder and huffed a laugh, probably trying to guess the new train of thought Koujaku had boarded.

"Relax, Red. I know an excellent tailor who won't demand an arm and a leg for his services. But if you don't trust him, just ask these two friends of yours to bring your outfit with them to the location of the wedding. We'll arrive there a day before the occasion takes place anyway, right? Because of that Pol--Pol-there...whatever! That eve-of-the-wedding party they mentioned in their invitation."

"Eh?"

Koujaku was more than irritated by the fact that Mink knew the content of the card better than him, even if the man had read it only once and Koujaku had almost managed to stare a hole into it. But truth be told, he had been more shocked about the mere fact that this invitation even existed, then about the actual content it held - aside from the words "getting married". Well, that and the fact that Aoba had even wanted him as his best man when Koujaku had no clue if he could handle that burden on top of witnessing his beloved best friend getting married to a guy he wanted to punch upon seeing his face.

He sighed and tried to get his thoughts back on track.

Bringing it up on his coil again, he reread the words more carefully this time. There it was: the date of the wedding was set one day after the party Mink had just mentioned. A so called "Polterabend" - whatever that was - well they did put a note there saying it was an eve-of-the-wedding party, like Mink had just told him. The instructions read to attend the occasion in semi-formal attire and to bring some china to break as a good luck charm for the bridal couple.  
Koujaku raised an eyebrow. What a weird custom. But if it was supposed to bring good luck to Aoba, then Koujaku was prone to go along with it.

The location was different to that of the actual wedding as well. Koujaku couldn't make much out of the way the address was was given, but there were some names and numbers combined to make it up. Koujaku briefly wondered who this "Wilhelm"-person might be and if this was supposed to be a first or a last name. The wedding location's name started with "Schloss" and was followed by other words Koujaku had no way of telling the meaning of.  
Frustrated about the information that might as well have been encrypted for all Koujaku could make out of it, he finally put it into his coil and started a search, beginning with the place where the wedding ceremony would be held.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Koujaku nearly fell from the couch when his search had presented him with the image of a magnificent building that looked like it was taken right out of a picture book. This was a freaking castle! Some European castle with a long-winded, complicated name, but still a castle nonetheless! The website promptly filled him in on the fact that it was equipped with a restaurant, a wine cellar, various guest rooms to spend the night in, a register office and a museum presenting the building's history if the visitor was interested in it. It also had a nice park to take a stroll in or to hold parties there.

Koujaku compared the address on the invitation with what he had fed his coil with - the data did indeed match.  
How rich was that goddamn rich kid exactly?

Mink, who had been disturbed in his own thought process by Koujaku's loud scream, turned around and watched Koujaku's jaw working, without him getting any words out of his mouth and looking like a lost kitten.  
Holding up his wristband coil as a sign for Koujaku to just sent over his screen to share his input, he took a good look at the location himself.

"The maniac has some money to burn, it seems.", was all he had to say about this, while Koujaku still cringed under the sheer fact that Noiz was actually able to afford that kind of a wedding place.

Wondering what would await him at the other location, he started a new search, but could only find a satellite picture of a house, that matched the address given this time.  
At first, Koujaku was somewhat relieved that this building seemed to be normal at least. But then he caught on on the scale, comparing the house's size to some trees and some car parked in front of its entryway when the shot was taken.  
His eyes widened.  
This wasn't simply a house, this was a goddamn mansion!

Koujaku felt a headache coming up, but at the same time he wondered why he even was surprised now, that he had seen where Noiz planned to hold his wedding at. It just irked him, that the kid rubbed his wealth into his face, like it was some kind of achievement to have been born to a rich family.

On the other hand, now that he tried to look at it from Noiz point of view, if he had that much money at his disposal and he was the one marrying Aoba, he would want to make their wedding the most gorgeous one in the world as well.  
Koujaku sighed in defeat and thought over the suits he owned, hanging in his wardrobe in Midorijima - maybe a new one would be better for this occasion after all. He made a mental note to ask Mink for the address of his tailor later.


	3. Pausing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [Kalikuks](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kalikuks/works) as well!

Koujaku sighed for the umpteenth time as he tried to force himself to accept the fact of the matter that was Aoba's upcoming wedding.

When he looked back at the man, who had offered to hold his hand during this whole ordeal, he found him staring out of the window over his shoulder while sipping on his cup of coffee. Koujaku's eyes widened a bit upon the sight.

Mink stood with his broad back to the window in a relaxed way. His blue-gray jeans nicely outlined his legs, while his right leg was crossed over his left one. He held onto the windowsill with one hand, while holding his coffee mug with the other. His beige-coloured shirt was not a tight fit, yet Koujaku couldn't help but to imagine the way Mink's muscles would be tensing below his cinnamon-coloured skin. Letting his eyes wander even higher, Koujaku saw the evening sun shining in through the glass colouring Mink's auburn hair to appear almost honey, while his golden eyes sparkled with the light reflected in them, giving him the vibe of something untouchable.

Koujaku couldn't help himself but to leer at him.

His crimson stare didn't go unnoticed by Mink though, who let out an amused breath through his nose at the sight of Koujaku almost drooling over him.  
"What's the matter, Red? Are you fantasizing about me or something?"

"Eh?!"  
Koujaku was awoken from worshiping Mink, like the man had slapped him over the head by his comment. He instantly blushed and stammered, but then gave up his attempt at talking back entirely and just sunk deeper into the couch's upholstery.

Mink, grinning to himself upon his reactions, decided to head over to Koujaku. He abandoned his mug on the coffee table and leaned over the other man, trapping him between his arms.  
"How about you visualize getting me out of these clothes?"  
He nuzzled Koujaku's temple before licking up his outer ear.  
"We can make this a reality then."

Koujaku's heart skipped a beat when Mink's low voice tickled his eardrums, and just a moment later Mink's lips were already on his. Koujaku noticed a certain sweetness filling his mouth as they deepened their kiss and their tongues stroked each other. Mink preferred his coffee black, so it must have been the taste of his own saliva or something. Koujaku wasn't sure why exactly this happened every time they kissed, but he had to smile inwardly at the fact that he was literally kissing a sweet, old man. Then a low chuckle escaped him and led to them parting lips.

Mink just gave him a short, inspecting look before he returned a soft smile his way and resumed plundering Koujaku's mouth with more fire behind it this time. Soon he clung to his lover's lips like they were going to die if they parted, licked the inside of Koujaku's mouth and sucked on the other's tongue, keeping both of them from taking deep breaths.

"Mink...!"

Once Mink's passion was inflamed, he was unstoppable, but Koujaku liked this about him, since he just gave free reign to his honest feelings in these moments.

After kissing Koujaku's mouth to his satisfaction and reducing him to a gasping mess, Mink's lips wandered down his lover's neck. He pushed Koujaku's wine-red, kimono-like cardigan over his shoulders and stripped him out of the black sweater he wore underneath it. Mink's hands and tongue were all over him the next instant as he tasted his skin - lips following the curves of the cursed tattoo coiling around Koujaku's torso while stroking his nude body.  
He really loved his chest. Of course Koujaku was not a woman - if you had any doubts about that, Koujaku's pecs would prove you otherwise. His well-shaped chest area just had an of irresistible appeal to Mink from a purely aesthetical point of view, so he kneaded and licked it to his content until Koujaku stammered about his embarrassment with glowing cheeks.

The white beads around Koujaku's wrists made a clicking noise when the hairdresser moved around, or rather when he was made to move in reaction to Mink's passionate caress. Not to mention that he was moaning, almost whimpering and whispering Mink's name while the other man worshiped his body unconcernedly.

Koujaku's right nipple, which was dyed completely black from having been under the merciless piercing of countless needles ages ago, was especially sensitive and Mink unsparingly concentrated his efforts on that part of Koujaku's chest next. He licked and sucked on it, and teased it with his teeth while tweaking the other nipple to hardness between his fingers.

Koujaku let out a more than frustrated moan swaying between pain and arousal then, and gave him a demanding look out of crimson eyes.

Mink just grinned back at him and continued his teasing.

Squirming under Mink's caress, Koujaku's head sank lower along the backrest of the sofa, which made his hair unpleasantly curling around his neck, as if it was protesting against this kind of movement. With it came the sudden realization that the colourful feathers, which Mink had braided into his locks, were threatened to be crushed between Koujaku's head and the upholstery, while Mink showered his upper body with attention.

"M-Mink, I...! Wait, the hair accessory...! It's getting crushed like that...!", Koujaku tried to make Mink known of his little problem, but the other man only spared him a seductive glance from below, before he buried his tongue in Koujaku's belly button next and just answered him with a short, deep murmur.

"I'll make you a new one if it breaks."

"That's not the point!", Koujaku retorted and was about to remind Mink that the way his hair had been done by Mink was something important to him and he didn't want anything to be destroyed by being careless, no matter if it was re-doable or not. But he was immediately cut from transferring his thoughts into words, when Mink grabbed the bulge straining against his pants from below and squeezed it provocatively, coaxing another aroused gasp out of him.

"AAH!"  
Koujaku slapped a hand over his mouth as soon as his outcry had reached his own ears. He had sounded so terribly needy that it was embarrassing, and a shy look down to Mink only led to his lover smirking contentedly about his reaction.

Mink went even further down next, to kneel between Koujaku's legs. He unceremoniously unbuckled the other's belt and unzipped his pants before pulling them down, revealing his underwear. Then he teased the spot that was slightly wet by circling his middle finger around it.

"That aroused already, Red? I didn't even do much yet."  
He playfully bit Koujaku's encased dick, before moving his fingers up and down a bit, followed by looking at him mischievously.

Koujaku let out a frustrated groan and glared at Mink for belittling him, but then gave him a cheeky look.  
The next moment, he lifted his leg over Mink's shoulder, and pressed his heel against Mink's back, effectively pulling the other man towards himself - or rather towards his crotch. Mink gave off a surprised gasp at the sudden change in his position and appeared slightly caught off guard.  
Koujaku only chuckled back at him.

"Why no, you certainly didn't do ANYTHING yet. So are you going to suck me off now to make up for it?"

Mink snorted in patronizing defeat.  
"As you wish, Red."

He reached towards Koujaku's hips and pulled down his underwear in one swift motion, finally exposing his lover's arousal. After a testing lick, Mink stroke his hair behind his ear to get it out of the way and leaned towards Koujaku's cock anew. He flicked his tongue against his lover's glans a few more times, before he licked up the underside, followed by swallowing it whole.

"Unh...! Ah! Mink!"  
Koujaku couldn't stop his needy moans from escaping his throat, which Mink acknowledged by a chuckle through his nose, before he began to suck Koujaku's dick in earnest.

Koujaku flinched at the feeling of the moist warmth enveloping him down there. When he felt Mink's tongue against his shaft while Mink's fingers kneaded his balls at the same time, he let out a soft whimper. Getting a blowjob from Mink was a rare thing to begin with, therefore Koujaku enjoyed it all the more. But feeling Mink's sucking lips and hot tongue on his genitals was so unreal, that he felt it way too much at the same time.

"Nh... Hah...! Gnh...!"

He had a hard time keeping his voice down, even if he didn't have to do that, since the only person around who was going to hear him was Mink anyway. But Koujaku had trouble conquering his own shame and grit his teeth instead, hissing as he took in air and letting out a soft whining sound as he breathed out.  
Since the atypical caress made him more sensitive than usual, he felt his climax approaching already. Not sure how Mink was going to take it to have cum spurting down his throat, he weakly pulled at his lover's hair and tried to warn him.  
"Mink, I...! I am going to... come soon, so...! Let... Let go, of m--Aaah!"

Mink most certainly wouldn't let go of anything here. He made that abundantly clear by sucking on Koujaku's cock even harder then before, and grabbed his thighs from below, hindering Koujaku from attempting to get away.

Koujaku had no choice but to give up caring how messy this could become, and finally indulged himself in the great feelings Mink gave him, starting by moving his pelvis in sync to Mink's bobbing head.

Mink looked up from below and couldn't hold back a grin as he saw his lover's nice reactions.  
Koujaku had his eyes squeezed shut as he concentrated on his lower half, while his cheeks burned with heat and embarrassment. He was inching ever closer to his limit, Mink could feel it by the way he moved his hips in an ever growing, frantic way and by how his breath came in ever shorter intervals. Not to mention his shivering fingers as he clawed at Mink's hair and the fact that he had just warned him about it. But Mink didn't care about a mouthful of come if he could make Koujaku feel this good.

Speaking of which, he himself felt rather confined in these jeans he wore by now. He could hardly wait much longer to finally be inside his lover. But just pouncing at him wouldn't do. It would just hurt him, so preparations were in order first.

Keeping up his blowjob, Mink eyed Koujaku's discarded cardigan on the floor. He knew quite well that the other man had gotten into the habit of carrying a certain substance with him in a small cream jar in case they decided to make love outside of bed.  
Mink loosened one hand from Koujaku's thigh, and reached for the piece of clothing on the floor, blindly rummaging into its pockets until he found what he had been looking for. Finally letting go of his lover's cock to see what he was doing, he unscrewed the small jar's cap, scooped out a generous amount of cream with his fingers, and smeared it on Koujaku's entrance.

"Eh...?"  
Irritated by the sudden, slimy and half-tickling feeling, Koujaku looked down and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the lewd expression on Mink's face.  
"You--UWAH!"

Mink hadn't hesitated much before he pushed a cream-coated finger inside of Koujaku and made him jerk. His body shivered at first, but it didn't take long until Mink felt Koujaku's body relax and his anus twitch in a way he was sure meant anticipation of more, so he slowly began moving his finger. 

"No, Mink, don't, I...! Uhn...!"

Koujaku didn't manage to form a coherent sentence with Mink's finger working its way inside of him. The hand he had buried into Mink's hair began to shake and he tried to push his lover away from himself, knowing what was going to happen soon.

Mink was amused by Koujaku's way of trying to resist what he truly wanted, and only a few searching movements later, Mink managed to locate Koujaku's prostate. But just a few moments into stimulating his sweet spot, Koujaku's body already spasmed and he came, giving Mink a facial.

"Gnh...!"

Koujaku had trouble to focus while he was catching his breath, but as soon as his mind registered the mess he had caused, he went another shade of red.  
"Shit, Mink, I'm so sorry!"

He did not have to get into a panic, though, as Mink just nonchalantly wiped Koujaku's come off his face with a mere "Don't mention it."  
When Mink felt the other eyeing him worriedly despite this, he lewdly licked the sticky substance off his hand, sending Koujaku into yet another degree of glowing cheeks.  
Mink just smirked back at him.

Koujaku grinded his teeth in ongoing embarrassment, but then sat up to grab Mink by his shirt collar and pulled him towards him.

"Stop the smug act and get out of these clothes already!" 

Impatiently fumbling with Mink's buttons made him accidently tear one of them off the button border, though, and he cursed in frustration.

Mink let out a soft chuckle, and covered Koujaku's hands with his own.  
"How about we do it this way, Red: I do the undressing and you start preparing yourself for me?"

Taking Koujaku not raising any kind of objection to his idea as approval, Mink got on his feet and began stripping in front of Koujaku, starting by unbuttoning his slightly abused shirt.

Koujaku was initially willing to comply, but he was distracted by Mink's actions. As more and more of Mink's body came to light, Koujaku couldn't help himself but to marvel at Mink's well accentuated physique, which was even better without clothing then it was clad in fabric in his opinion.

Mink stopped shrugging his shirt off his shoulders to give Koujaku a lecturing look.  
"Don't just stare at me, Red. Move these fingers. I want to enter you as soon as possible."

Wiping some drool off his face, Koujaku eyed the other man's crotch and had to grin when he saw the prominent bulge tenting his jeans. Fired up by the fact that Mink was as eager as himself to continue, Koujaku leant back on the couch lasciviously. He spread his legs open wide enough for Mink to see everything. Normally, this position alone was enough to pour all kinds of shame all over him. But at this point Koujaku's thoughts only circled around the anticipation of how good Mink was going to make him feel, and that he might hurry it up the more offensive he lured him in.

Brushing his hand over his own cock to gather some of his come to add it to the creamy substance already inside of his body, Koujaku began preparing himself for Mink.  
It was still weird to touch himself there of all places, no matter the times he had done it before already. Not that the feedback was much better if it were Mink's fingers instead of his own digging around inside of him, but at least he did not have to constantly concentrate on the movements of his digits then.  
Mink had managed to unzip his jeans and was currently stepping out of the pants' legs. When he rightened himself up again, Koujaku got to see that his boxers were stained with a wet spot where his erection strained against the fabric of his underwear. He must really have held it in for quite some time by now.

Before he even realized he was doing it, Koujaku had already reached out to him and was hooking his fingers below the waistband of Mink's underwear to pull it down, the surprised protest of his lover not even registering in his brain. He gave Mink's exposed length a lick, then and a second one and one more for good measurement, and before he knew it he was already halfway sucking him off.

This time Mink's protests showed by him forcefully shoving Koujaku's head away, though.

"Don't do this, Red."  
He seemed contrite, cheeks even blushing a little if Koujaku's eyes didn't deceive him.  
"I want to come inside of you. If you suck me off right now, I..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but looked away and worried his lower lip, so Koujaku understood. Mink simply didn't want to come that way, since he was afraid of not getting it up fast enough again to pleasure him afterwards.  
Koujaku had to grin at the thought. It wasn't like they were in a hurry or had to limit the rounds they were going to do it. But he did not want his lover's ego to bruise over something like this, even if this was Mink and therefore hard to imagine. Plus, Koujaku had to admit that he preferred to feel the other buried inside of him, too. Therefore he leant back on the couch and looked invitingly at Mink with lusty, crimson eyes.

"Come at me then. I'm all good."

That was the last straw for Mink.The next thing Koujaku knew was how the other grabbed hold of his shoulder and turned him around with the next motion of his arm, before he took him from behind, shoving himself deep inside of Koujaku in one go.

"Nh-ah...!"  
Koujaku clenched his teeth upon the sudden intrusion, but tried to relax himself as good as possible during the moment Mink gave him after entering. Koujaku could judge by Mink's harsh breathing that it took all of Mink's self-restraint not to hump him like some mad dog already. That kind of reassurement eased his tension more than anything else, though.

After taking a few more deep breaths of his own, Koujaku moved his ass back against Mink's pelvis invitingly, added by the lewdly delivered line: "It's fine, do as you like."

Mink let go of his self-control with an audible hiss, followed by digging his fingers into Koujaku's hips to take him in a hard, steady rhythm the next moment.

"Aaah! Uhn!"  
Koujaku moaned louder than he had intended to, but could not muster enough worry to care, much less the ability to think, as Mink thrust into him again and again.  
Clawing at the champagne leather of the couch while Mink concentrated on hitting his good spots, Koujaku swayed back and forth with Mink, his lover's guttural moans right next to his ear.

Then Mink caught and nibbled on his earlobe, followed by licking its outer shell, and kissing his way down Koujaku's neck while brushing his hair out of the way as he went.  
It was only when Mink playfully bit into his right shoulder that a cold shower of goosebumps rode down Koujaku's spine.

Touching this part of his skin was a sudden reminder of what his arm and back displayed brightly in the open right now, and what he usually tried to hide from the world due to the memories it invoked.  
He involuntarily began to stiffen up his body, and got out of synch with Mink's movements, like he was out of energy from one moment to the other.

Mink noticed the sudden change of mood, but had difficulty to stop driving himself into his lover, yet he slowed down his pace at least to inspect the reason for Koujaku's change of heart.  
His beloved shivered - it was hardly perceptibly, but he clearly did it. And his body felt tense to Mink's touch as well.

Mink was finally able to stop his motions and murmured into his ear.  
"What's wrong, Red? Does is hurt?"  
Pain was the last thing he was trying to evoke during love-making. 

Koujaku just shook his head with a low "It's nothing." and tried to get back into their rhythm by himself, but Mink had already seen right through him and was not fooled that easily.  
He retraced his steps and suddenly it dawned on him what might be wrong. 

"It's fine, Red." His voice was a reassuring hum next to Koujaku's ear.  
He did not want their love-making to be over by fear consuming his beloved. So he decided to show him that he loved all of him, every inch of his body. 

As if to repeat his earlier gesture, he placed a kiss onto Koujaku's right shoulder, then kissed his way to his left shoulder blade, followed by covering his lover's entire tattooed back with countless touches of his lips until he felt Koujaku change from shivering to squirming in embarrassment.  
"The tribals and the flowers just enhance your beauty right now, nothing more."

"Mink...!"  
Koujaku's thoughts were starting to get all muddled up again. Despite Mink knowing what history lay behind his tattoos he was still touching him deliberately instead of getting turned off by looking at his body. He was even showering his back in kisses.  
A weird feeling of sadness about his revived memories mixed with joy about the present, when he was loved so much, took hold of Koujaku.

"Koujaku."

Suddenly he felt a different kind of shiver riding down his spine.

Mink said his real name on few occasions only, sticking to his then code- and now pet-name out of habit most of the time. So his true name rolling from the other man's tongue just now was a sudden turn-on for Koujaku.

"Don't think right now, just feel me."  
Mink lifted his hand to strokes Koujaku's back, only pausing shortly when he felt the other flinch at his touch again.  
He caressingly led his hand over Koujaku's body from his back to his hips, slid it down Koujaku's thigh, and then guided it to Koujaku's crotch to massage his slightly softened cock back to full hardness.

"Ah, Mink...!"  
Touching him the way Mink did it made Koujaku's whole body tingle, slowly rekindling this lust.

Mink understood Koujaku's reaction as a sign that he resume their earlier actions, so he began to move his hips again. He did it slowly at first, then more eager, when he was positive that he had found what he had been looking for. He knew Koujaku could not resist being stimulated there of all places, and his lover moaning and wriggling from his movements were the absolute best in his opinion.

"Uhn...! Mi--Kh...!"

Answering Koujaku's cries, Mink grabbed his hips with both hands and intensified his thrusts. His pace became harder and faster until they were both breathless with need again and Koujaku saw stars with every well-angled hit at his inner walls.

Koujaku let go of his voice again, moaning Mink's name to spur him on further and Mink obliged him by ramming into him in short, harsh intervals.

"Uh! Hah!"  
He was going to come soon.  
Koujaku dug his fingers deeper into the top of the couch's backrest at this realisation and checked how Mink was doing.  
Judging by Mink's husky breaths right next to his ear he was close as well, so he clamped down on Mink's cock so hard that it was almost painful for the other. It proved to be just the right amount of stimulus to shove Mink over the edge, though, and he came with a bitten back moan.  
That and a last, deep thrust inside of Koujaku served to make him climax, too, a moan dying on his lips when it overcame him.

 

They tried to catch their breath while waiting for the pressure to recede again, still locked together tightly in their position - Koujaku kneeing on the couch with Mink standing half-bent over him.

Koujaku could feel his strength gradually leaving his body, keeping upright on his knees needed all the strength he could muster, and even that proved to become more and more difficult by the minute.  
Then he felt Mink slowly pulling out of him and his knees gave way the very next second, making him slump down on the couch sideways. Mink caught him from behind, preventing him from plummeting to the ground, and gently guided him into laying on the couch while he embraced him from behind.

The next thing Koujaku felt were soft kisses to his temple and a satisfied sigh escaping through Mink's nose.  
It was cramped and almost too hot to lay together like this, but Koujaku's mind still told him, that the right term to describe his situation was "cosy" an nothing else.  
He let out a soft recognizing sigh as he snuggled a bit closer to Mink and closed his eyes, about to fall asleep.

"Oi, Red, don't do this."  
Mink's calmly warning voice carried a subtle chuckle.  
"Calming down is fine, but don't fall asleep here, you'll get sick."

"Hnn...", Koujaku murmured as a sign that he had heard him - and ignored him.

Mink shook his head with a smile and regrettingly maneuvered himself off the couch, before he reached for Koujaku.  
Not giving the other man the chance to get what he was about to do, he scooped him into his arms and heaved him off their seating accommodation, to carry him towards his bedroom.

"What?! Huh? Wah?!"  
Koujaku was suddenly wide-awake - all of the nice feelings of the afterglow  
gone in a second.  
"What are you doing, Mink?! Let me down! Don't carry me around like some princess!"

He struggled, but all he got from Mink in return was a smug grin and a cheesy line.  
"Would you prefer it if I carried you thrown over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes instead?"

"What? No! That's not the point! Let me down! I can walk by myself!"  
Koujaku was fuming, but mostly out of embarrassment than of actual fury.

Mink quit it with another grin and kept moving anyways.  
"I doubt that, so stop squirming. We're there soon anyway."

Sure enough they arrived in front of Mink's bedroom and he opened the door by pressing down the handle with his elbow and giving the door a light kick so it swung open.  
Ignoring Koujaku's protests that it was far enough and that he could let go of him now, Mink only allowed him to slip off his arms when he had already placed him on top of his bed.

"Tche!"  
Koujaku crossed his arms over his chest and sulked, but it was short-lived, as Mink dropped down beside him and swung his arm over him, effectively pushing him into the sheets, then pulling him close to snuggle against him.

"Gaaah!"  
Koujaku had to vent his put-on anger, but then made himself comfortable against Mink's chest and dove his nose into his auburn strands of hair.  
He loved being close to him and to be honest, he was not angry at all. It was just a little humiliating to be carried around like some girl. But at the same time it was nice to see Mink smile at him, even if it was a dirty grin.  
He grumbled at himself when he followed his own thoughts.  
What had he become?  
Some love-drunk idiot?  
He peeked up to see Mink's face and even his ears reddened when the answer to his self-asked question was an echoing "yes" in his head.


	4. Reflecting

It. Was. Terrifying.  
Koujaku simply couldn't stop gaping at this giant mansion right in front of his very eyes. Not even the voice of the chauffeur, who was currently urging him to get out of the car for the umpteenth time, could do anything against Koujaku remaining frozen in his seat. This mansion was simply too intimidating for him to get any closer to it.

Heck, this whole wedding was on such a scale that Koujaku couldn't stop from getting goose bumps thinking about the costs of this event.

Noiz and Aoba had invited him to their wedding, but it had turned out that not only was Koujaku allowed to bring a guest of his choice, but that both their flight tickets would be paid for by the noisy brat, too. The only thing they had to do was to book a flight from their starting destination, which would arrive on time for the eve of the wedding, and to mention a name to get it booked at Noiz' expense - costs be damned. Koujaku still couldn't pronounce said name properly, but he guessed by now that it might be Noiz' real name, or at least the name he used in Germany. Who knew what the whole truth was, Koujaku certainly didn't care. But not caring didn't involve not being completely awestruck by the whole affair and hating Noiz' guts for it, because it felt like he was borrowing money from the kid, which he could not afford to pay back in any way.

Okay, maybe Koujaku could have afforded the flight somehow, but that was pretty much all about it. Meaning, this certainly didn't include a chauffeur collecting him and Mink from the airport - in some black limousine to beat - and driving them around for quite some time to get to this manor, and all of that when the actual wedding hadn't even started yet.  
Not to mention that they were allowed to stay at this location for the duration of the wedding as well, when the place amounted to something equivalent to a five-star hotel, at least from the outside look and proportions of it. And they would even change locations later on, too, when the actual wedding ceremony was held at a huge-ass castle - Koujaku still could not get over the castle-part of this.

"Red, stop making this hard for everyone and get out of the car."

Koujaku swallowed hard.  
That was definitely Mink's scolding voice, so the man seriously was all out of patience by now. This could mean two things: Mink was either going to get him out of the car by force, or he was going to do things without him and letting Koujaku rot in the place he currently occupied as punishment for his childish behaviour.  
Judging by the fact that Mink was drawing ever closer to the limousine, this probably meant he was going for the first option, though.

Mink supported himself against the car by putting one arm on top of its roof in front of the already opened car door, and gave Koujaku a glare of obvious annoyance. He looked at him like he wanted to say that Koujaku was seriously going to get in trouble if he had to repeat himself one more time.

Koujaku finally gave in with a heavy sigh and stepped out of the car.

Their driver had already brought their luggage inside of the mansion, before he had almost stoically waited for all of his passengers to leave his vehicle, so the only thing to be done for the two newcomers was to face the people beaming at them from the doorstep.

Well, the blue-haired man could be described as “beaming” at least, the strawberry-blonde one looked rather annoyed. Mink thought this was probably his normal attitude, judging by his memories of the ever expressionless youth. He slowed down his steps so Koujaku could walk past him to be the first one to great the to-be-wedded.

“Koujaku, it’s so good to see you!”, Aoba laughed and gave his old friend a hearty hug, while Noiz and Mink just exchanged well-meaning glances and acknowledging nods.

When Aoba was done greeting Koujaku, he halfway froze in place as he eyed Mink up close.  
“And… Mink.”, Aoba said with a weak, put-on smile. “Welcome.”

The taller man just answered him with a low hum and went past Aoba to follow Noiz, who led the way inside the house.

Looking over his shoulder for a moment, Mink had no problems reading the clearly visible vibe of disgust paired with insecurity and disbelief directed towards him from Aoba. The blue-haired siren most likely wondered why he of all people was here, accompanying his best friend to his wedding and how he had managed not to break anybody’s face first thing after arriving.  
Mink couldn’t hide a small smirk at his own thoughts.  
Surely, Aoba hadn’t forgotten the time he had held him captive once, and had urged his men to almost violate him on the dirty floor of his old hideout just to test his mind-controlling powers. But he hoped that Aoba also hadn’t forgotten the fact that Mink had kept his part of the deal considering his help in rescuing the guy’s grandmother when she had been kidnapped by Morphine. From Mink’s perspective, they were even.

Aoba hoped Mink was out of earshot, when he pulled Koujaku next to him to ask him in a whisper: “Is this guy really Mink?”

“Eh? Of course it’s Mink. Can’t you tell just by looking, Aoba?”  
Koujaku gave off the impression like his best friend had just asked him something unbelievable.

Hearing not only Aoba’s question, but Koujaku’s dumbfounded, half-stuttered answer as well, made Mink smile and shrug to himself while he walked on unimpressed.

“Sure I can tell, but at the same time he looks totally different.”, Aoba answered his best friend by throwing his hands in the air with wild gestures and gave Koujaku a fully infidel look. He wanted to ask him thousands of questions at once – Mink’s looks being only the top of the iceberg. But then his common sense kicked in and told him it would be rude to get too intrusive first thing after he had finally seen Koujaku again. Plus, to be honest, there was still a part of him left that remembered what a dangerous fellow Mink had been when he had first met him back in Midorijima, and that it might be risky to anger the man by underlining the fact that he was not happy to see him.

It had been Koujaku’s decision to bring this guy to his wedding, and Aoba was sure Koujaku knew how important this whole wedding-thing was for him. Therefore, he trusted him in only bringing a guest who would not ruin this very important day for him. To be honest, what he had feared the most was for Koujaku and Noiz to argue the whole time during the event, but thankfully Noiz had kept his promise to hold back on the teasing for now and Koujaku seemed to be civil as well.

Still, the fact that Koujaku’s eyes seemed to dart to Mink’s back again and again, as if he needed his reassurement for some reason as they walked through Noiz’ family home, didn’t really help calming Aoba’s doubts. His hazel eyes grew with fear and before he knew it he blurted out: “Mink isn’t blackmailing you, is he?”

Koujaku blinked – bewildered – then shook his head while trying to wave off Aoba’s thoughts with both hands at the same time.  
“No, no, no! He’s not threatening me or anything! I brought him of my own free will! In fact, I asked him to come with me.”

“What? Why?”

“Uhm…!”

Koujaku broke out in a cold sweat and pressed his lips together into a thin line as he felt a really awkward sensation climbing up his back.  
He still had no clue how to explain his relationship with Mink to Aoba, and even if he had had an idea it surely was not the first thing he wanted to discuss after seeing Aoba again.

Staring helplessly at Mink’s broad back right in front of him again didn’t help one bit, either.

Or did it?

Mink stopped walking at least, almost making Aoba run into him, and turned around with an annoyed expression on his face.  
“I can hear you loud and clear. If you have a problem with me being here, say it to my face.”

“Uh…!”  
Aoba seemed to shrink against Mink looming over him with annoyance plastered all over his face, and shook his head frantically.  
“No, no, it’s fine, really. Sorry for being too nosy. You’re our guest and you are welcome. Right, Noiz?”

Noiz, who only looked at Mink with just a glimpse of interest – obviously not taking the situation serious in the least – gave Mink a polite smile and an “of course you are” that sounded way too smooth, before he continued leading the way.  
Aoba, who seemed infuriated by his disregardful behaviour, went after him with a fling of “Huh? Do you know something I don’t? Wait up! Noiz!”

Mink couldn’t help a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he waited for Koujaku to catch up to him.  
“The maniac will always stay a know-it-all-bastard after all.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”  
Koujaku obviously couldn’t follow his thoughts, but Mink didn’t feel like enlightening his lover either.  
He was sure that Noiz already knew all about their relationship, since it would fit his hacker-image well to know such things in Mink’s opinion. Besides, Noiz probably only needed to take a look at their flight tickets he had paid for, which blatantly stated that both of them had left from the same airport and it had not been Midorijima. Plus, the brat hadn’t made a big deal out of the fact that Koujaku was here – that he even had embraced Aoba earlier – although Mink was quite sure he hadn’t grown out of getting into a catfight with his old rival yet.  
Mink deduced the reason for his behaviour sprang from the knowledge that Koujaku was in a relationship with him now, and as such he was no competitor for Aoba’s love any longer.

 

After having climbed a flight of stairs and walking past various rooms, Noiz finally stopped and turned around, gesturing to an open door.

“Here are our guestrooms. You can occupy whichever one you like, since you arrived here first. I would recommend this one.”  
He looked at Mink and Koujaku with his usual indifference, that had coloured his earlier statement to sound rather disinterested in the whole affair.

Koujaku rose a disgruntled eyebrow at Noiz’ attitude and was about to let out a teasing comment, but Aoba beamed at him. He was probably hoping that the room would be to his liking.

Mink just nonchalantly stepped into their designated lodgings and walked straight up to the bedroom, not even giving his surroundings so much as a glance. Koujaku couldn’t stop gaping as soon as he had set one foot into the room, though.  
Instead of a simple guestroom to sleep in, this was more like a suite. It included a small lobby, a room probably functioning as some kind of workspace, a spacious bathroom, and of course a bedroom. Inspecting the bedding further, it consisted of a king-size double bed clearly intended for a couple to stay the night.

Koujaku swallowed hard.  
So him being together with Mink was such an obvious thing after all?

Looking over his shoulder, he saw a telling, dirty grin on Noiz’ lips, but Aoba seemed to be unsettled at the sight of the bed.

“Uwah, this is one of the rooms with a single bed in them, Noiz!”  
Aoba was clearly distressed by the fact that his husband-to-be wanted to allocate this room to his best friend and company.

Noiz obviously faked sharing Aoba’s concerns in the matter when he commented in a monotone, non-convincing way: “Ah, you are right. I must have mixed up the rooms by accident.”  
He rose a curious eyebrow at Koujaku and Mink, but it was clear from his underlying smirk, that he just wanted to tease his guests as he continued.  
“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind sharing a bed when it’s this big, though. Or do you?”

Koujaku opened his mouth, but Mink beat him with the answer and sounded as impassive as a rock about Noiz’ way of trying to shove the fact that the two of them were lovers in everybody’s face.  
“It’s not a problem for me as long as I can sleep somewhere. How about you, Red?”

Koujaku looked from Mink to Aoba and back, a sudden panic making him unable to get relaxed at all. Even the stoic calm his lover emitted didn’t help, so his answer came out badly stuttered.  
“Y-yeah, it’s… it’s fine, we… We will manage… somehow.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to.”, Aoba immediately reassured his old friend with a worried look on his face, probably fired up by seeing Koujaku being uncomfortable about the prospect of having to share a bed with Mink.  
“There is another guestroom right next door and I think the beds are separate in there, right, Noiz?”

Noiz looked at Aoba and they exchanged a silent conversation with their eyes only, before Noiz gave in with a resigning exhale, shrugged once and stroke his nape of the neck.  
“I guess my bride will not allow me to pull the old man’s leg even just a little anymore.”  
He turned on his heels and waved his hand to signalize for the others to follow him over to the next room.  
“Come on then, it’s right over here.”

Aoba followed Noiz immediately – fuming at him for how embarrassing it was to call him his bride, while Noiz chuckled at him that he just had been telling the truth after all.

Koujaku barely listened to their conversation. He looked at Mink like a beaten dog begging for forgiveness for having been a coward, when he could just have stood up for his feelings towards Mink. Now that he thought about it, Noiz’ way of presenting their accommodation would not even have necessarily meant to make any kind of confession, and Mink had played it down, too. He was such an idiot!

His lover walked over to him and lifted his hand as he drew closer. Koujaku almost expected a slap, but Mink just gave him a comforting, short brush through his hair in passing him by, as if he wanted to reassure Koujaku that he wasn’t mad at him for anything.  
Koujaku was relieved but at the same time felt a sting in his heart for having acted so pathetically and probably hurting Mink’s feelings despite the casual way he had acted.

Having the courage to stand up for your feelings in your mind and having courage for real were two different things after all.

 

Changing locations from one suite to the other, they were faced with something quite similar to what they had just left. The difference was another colour scheme of the rooms, the fact that the lobby contained a study with an impressive bookshelf and a window with a balcony, and that the bedroom consisted of two separate beds this time.

Koujaku stared at the two single beds with a sinking feeling in his stomach, but Mink just decided to take a seat on the bed he was closest to as if he wanted to test the mattress for its level of comfort.

Aoba, who watched them from the doorstep with a smile, was apparently satisfied that he had provided his friend with a better place to stay in.  
“There is still a lot of time until this evening when the party takes place, and I know how annoying a jetlag can be, so if you want to take a nap just go ahead. Or you can eat something in case you’re hungry?”

Aoba’s smile was welcoming, but Koujaku couldn’t bring himself to put on a genuine smile as he answered him – it was more like a forced grin.  
“No, I think we’re good for now, right Mink?”

Mink just nodded silently, not looking at either Aoba or Koujaku, but watching the butler, who brought their luggage and excused himself with a bow when he was done.

“Well, just settle down then. I’ll see you around and then we can talk some more.”, Aoba said while waving at Koujaku, and left his best friend alone, catching up with Noiz outside.

Koujaku guessed there were still preparations to make for the wedding tomorrow and maybe some other things for the event this evening.  
He couldn’t say he really cared much about this. Even less so as he caught himself yawning. The flight had eaten away half a day and he had not really been able to calm down much while in the air. Plus, jetlag from a plus ten hours of flight was creeping up at him the moment he had allowed himself to think about it.

Looking at Mink, the other was already shedding the top-layer of his clothes, he probably intended to take a nap as well.

Their eyes met; slightly hesitant red vs. warm gold – Mink really didn’t seem mad at all. Koujaku still felt bad about the thing with their beds being separated, though.

“Want to take a shower together, Red?”

“Eh?”  
The sudden question startled Koujaku, but Mink just continued to undress himself and then uncaringly walked over to the bathroom in nothing but his shorts.

Koujaku’s face reddened up to his ears at the sight – on the mere fact that Mink was walking around almost naked in a foreign house to be exact – but as soon as Mink gave him a look that spelled “hurry it up or I’ll leave you behind”, Koujaku was stripping down to his underwear as well and caught up with him.  
“I hope nobody will come in now.”, he said with a slightly panicky look on his face, but Mink just grinned at him.

“I seriously doubt that. Plus, there’s most likely no room to get undressed in the bathroom anyways. It’s European style after all.”

Pressing down the handle to the bathroom, Mink’s words turned out to be true. There really was no separate room to get rid of your clothes, much like it was with Mink’s cabin. The only thing to store any clothing articles at was a row of wall hooks by the door. Aside from that, the room housed a large bathtub, a shower cabin, a toilet and a sink, with the latter two separated from the rest by a built-in room divider. There was some nice décor, too. Overall it really felt like being in some kind of five-star hotel.

Watching Mink getting out of his underwear and following his lead absentmindedly, Koujaku wondered whether Mink was that eager to take a shower because he was sleepy, too, and therefore wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

As they headed over to the walk-in shower area, there was only one shower, but it had one of these extravagant rain shower heads Koujaku once had seen in a furnishing catalogue. While he was still unsure whether two people were actually going to fit underneath it, Mink nonchalantly ushered him towards the middle of the shower and let the water run.

“Uwah!”  
The first gush of water made Koujaku jump a little, since it was cold, but Mink quickly adjusted the temperature to a relaxing warmth.

The moment Koujaku realized that his head had become wet, he reflexively touched his hair where Mink’s feathers would usually decorate it – it was an empty spot. He had not put on any feathers today so as to not make his relationship with Mink too obvious.  
He suddenly felt very ashamed of himself again.

For a minute or two, there was a tense silence between them, and Koujaku tried to avoid meeting Mink’s eyes, looking around a little helplessly as the water continued to pour down on them.

Not knowing what inner struggle Koujaku had wrapped himself in this time, Mink simply didn’t meet the other’s eyes because he was in search of some body wash. Not caring much about the brand as long as it made him clean, the tall man grabbed the first stylish flask he spotted, that was most likely to contain shower gel, and foamed it up between his hands.  
After he had spread it over his whole body, he caught Koujaku watching him in a daze out of the corner of his eyes, so Mink proceeded to soap his lover’s body as well.

“Huh? Mink, you don’t have to—Uh…!”  
Koujaku’s sudden surprise died down when Mink started to move his hands in a massaging way all over his body, the man’s ever warm, big hands half-kneading, half-caressing Koujaku’s skin as he spread the soap everywhere.

“Relax Red, it’s fine.”

“Nh…”

Koujaku found himself melting under Mink’s touch. The stress he had put himself under all day long ever since they had left Mink’s cabin was finally on its way to leave his body little by little.

Mink had slowly moved behind Koujaku while he was touching every inch of his body, and then placed a kiss on Koujaku’s crown of the head.  
Koujaku liked it when Mink did that. It seemed like a sweet habit of his. It felt like it was a special place to be kissed by him. Mink had never told him why he did that from time to time, but whenever he did it, Koujaku couldn’t help but feel loved.  
He wanted to give something back as well, so he turned his head around to offer his lips to Mink, who didn’t hesitate to welcome them with his own.

A well-known sweetness tickled Koujaku’s tongue as their kiss became hotter, deeper, and soon Mink’s hands on him grew more possessive as they slid over his body, while he began to move his hips against Koujaku’s.  
Koujaku felt something poking against his lower back, and reached behind himself to stroke up Mink’s slowly hardening cock.  
Mink let out a stifled breath when he felt Koujaku’s hand on himself, then reached around the other’s body to return the favour with one hand, while the other explored Koujaku’s legs and ass.

“Nah...!”  
Koujaku couldn’t help a sigh escape his lips and he put more effort into his own touches to make Mink feel better. But in the middle of his daze growing thicker, he suddenly was hit by the realisation that they weren’t at Mink’s home now, quite the contrary.  
“W-Wait, Mink, we can’t…!”  
Koujaku suddenly grew panicky again. This was Noiz’ house and their voices might soon echo from the bathroom walls if they continued. Koujaku didn’t want to be disturbed during love-making by the beansprout of all people, or to be seen by Aoba during the act. Testing his own feelings immediately after his thoughts had run through his head, Koujaku was somewhat relieved that the reason for this was more the fact that he didn’t want to share this private moment with anybody else, than it was to be seen doing it in general, and most of all with a man. 

Nevertheless, he had become much too sober again and was about to turn down Mink’s advances on him, but then he felt Mink putting his hands on his shoulder and turning him around. He made  
a very determined face when he looked into his lover’s eyes.

“If you’re afraid of the noise, you can muffle your cries against my shoulder, Red.”

“Eh?”

Mink didn’t give him time to answer, but put his arms around Koujaku’s body and grabbed his butt cheeks possessively.

Koujaku suppressed an unmanly squeaking sound, but couldn’t hold back a moan when he felt Mink caressing his ass with one hand and starting to massage his dick with the other again.  
“Uh…! Kuh…!”

His breath became raspier, and the volume of his voice grew with every well-positioned touch of Mink’s hands, so after a few minutes he took Mink’s offer and muffled his moans against his nape of the neck.

Mink massaging his rear made Koujaku wonder how far Mink intended to go, but he didn’t insert a finger or anything, just kneaded his buttocks and caressed his lower back from time to time.

Koujaku didn’t want to be the only one to enjoy things, so he moved his hand around Mink’s shaft as well, touching the places he knew felt especially good for the other man, and tried to coax a moan out of him, too. It proved to be a difficult task, though. Mink was just too good in keeping his voice down. Plus, his voice was pretty deep anyway, so whenever a grunt left his lips, it was easily drowned in the sound of the running shower.

Koujaku watched him with half-open eyes as he enjoyed Mink’s caress and tried to make him feeling good as well. He wanted to kiss him again badly, and as soon as he had lifted his head just slightly from resting it against Mink’s skin, his lover already caught his lips and entangled their tongues.  
If Mink liked one thing during sex It was kissing, Koujaku knew that, and he loved it. It felt too good to have his mouth plundered and then feeling Mink’s tongue all over his body – his ear, neck, and collar bone being the main target right now.

It was hard not to just let Mink do all the work when he got in the mood to relish every inch of his partner’s body with his mouth. Nevertheless, Koujaku wanted to answer his feelings in turn and grabbed at his wet hair with his free hand, then caressed Mink’s back with hardened, possessive fingertips.

It was hot, so hot in Mink’s arms and their skin touching everywhere. The water vapour from the now steaming hot shower adding to the sensation.

“Aah…!”  
Koujaku was close, he could feel it together with his breath getting shorter and his heartbeat sounding louder in his ears.  
“Mink…! Mink, I…!”

“Mh…!”  
Mink only murmured in his ear before nibbling on it, and intensified his way of stroking Koujaku’s dick.

“Hah! Uuh! No, wait! What about you?”, Koujaku gasped and tried to make something out of Mink’s unreadable expression.

The taller man gave him the look of a wild beast in heat and licked his lover’s temple lasciviously before whispering in his ear: “I could come from your heated expression alone, Red. Just come for me. I’m good.”

Mink’s deep, dry voice so close to his ear and his perverted words were the last straw, and Koujaku felt himself climaxing with Mink’s next, hard stroke on his shaft.  
“Nah--!”  
His nails unconsciously dug into Mink’s cock as he came, and proved to be just enough stimuli to send Mink over the edge, too.

Gasping for breath as they slowly came down from their climax again, Koujaku felt Mink nosing his crown of the head again, before his lips lightly touched it.  
He couldn’t help a smile. It just felt nice.

 

When they had calmed down again, the depletion of their energy level had become pretty noticeable, so they hurried it up with washing their hair and body respectively.

Pre-drying his hair with a towel afterwards, Koujaku finally found the courage to address the matter that had eaten away at him since the whole affair of choosing their room had gone down.  
“I’m sorry for earlier, Mink”

Mink just looked at him for a moment and mulled things over while trying to get his hair as dry as possible with a towel, too, before he answered him.  
“I didn’t accompany you to force you to come out in front of your friend, Red. I’m here, because you asked me to come with you. So I will only hold your hand if you want me to.”

That said, Mink grabbed for the guest hairdryer by the sink and started to blow-dry his hair.

Koujaku felt touched by Mink’s words, but decided not to add anything to it. Instead, he stepped out of the bathroom to search his luggage for his own blow-drier. What kind of hair stylist would he be without his own tools always at hand after all? Plus, this was an important event, so he wanted to look his best, and he preferred not to trust in foreign equipment.

As he proceeded to dry his hair properly, Koujaku couldn’t stop staring at their sleeping accommodations, though.  
Sure, he had been the reason they had ended up with separate beds and it wasn’t like they shared a bed every single night at Mink’s cabin either. But in the latter case they would not share a room at all then, so they wouldn’t see each other while lying in bed. Now they were in the same room, yet not under the same blanket. The mere thought was enough to weird Koujaku out.

Catching Mink’s attention as the other man got out of the bathroom as well, Koujaku gave him a weak smile which Mink returned with his eyes. He wasn’t mad at him, but still Koujaku felt something weighing heavily on his soul.

He finished drying his hair and the next thing Koujaku realized was that Mink caressingly slid his fingers through his loose strands as he half-passed him.  
“You look good with your hair like that, Red.”  
He kissed his temple and walked over to his bed.

As Koujaku still stared at him dumbfounded, Mink mentioned something along the lines that sleeping for about four to six hours should be fine if they wanted to be in time for the party at the evening, dressing and getting ready in general included.  
But the only thing Koujaku realized was the part where Mink wished him a good night’s sleep as he crawled underneath the covers.

Koujaku went to his own bed and, after looking at Mink’s closed eyes, wished him a good night as well and pulled the curtains closed before getting into bed as well. Pulling up the covers to his nose, Koujaku couldn’t help himself but to stare at Mink in the semidarkness of the room.

This felt wrong.  
All of it did.

Koujaku grit his teeth as the fact that it was his fault to have ended up in separate beds kept echoing in his mind again and again. All of Mink’s earlier attempts to ease his nerves couldn’t keep him relaxed anymore, and not even the heavy sleepiness weighing down on him could stop him from thinking.

He turned around, then turned back again.  
He told himself that he wasn’t a little kid and that he could manage not sharing a bed with Mink for fuck’s sake.  
But that awful feeling kept nagging at him. He had denied Mink as his lover, had not dared to be true to himself, maybe even hurt Mink’s feelings in the process, even if the other didn’t blame him actively.  
Koujaku just felt disgusted with himself the more he thought about it.  
His fingers dug into his shoulder as he lay on his side and hugged himself.

This whole matter wasn’t even new to him anymore. It was the same kind of guilt that had crawled up on him when he had brooded over whether to ask Mink to accompany him to Aoba’s wedding in the first place. He had thought to have gotten over this ridiculous kind of fear what anybody might think of his relationship with Mink already. But his own actions proved him wrong. Maybe it had something to do with him trying to hide his true feelings towards Aoba from his best friend for so long, that he couldn’t simply be all open about having chosen a man as his lover now. Whatever the reason, it tied him down to act in a way he hated himself for.

A hitched breath left Koujaku’s lips and a low hissing sound from breathing in through his gritted teeth could be heard.  
He didn’t want this.  
He didn’t want to lie in some foreign bed thousands of miles away from home with Mink just in reach but too far away at the same time and all of that just because he had been acting like a fool.

“Gn…!”  
He wanted to be next to him, to share his warmth, to smell his relaxing scent, to sleep by his side, especially after just having been so close to him a few minutes ago.  
He felt utterly lonely.

But God, he wasn’t a kid anymore!  
He needed to get a grip on himself!

“Kuh…!”  
A silent curse echoed in his mind and accused him of being a gigantic fool.

“Red”, Mink’s voice broke the silence and made Koujaku gasp. It was followed by the sound of rustling sheets. “Come here.”

Koujaku stared at Mink across the dimly lit room and saw the other man had even stretched out his arm to underline his invitation. 

His voice sounded like he didn’t mean it at all as he stuttered “N-no, I’m good, really- I—“, but at the same time he already slid towards the edge of the mattress like he couldn’t endure the temptation.

Mink just repeated “Come here.” one more time before Koujaku got out of bed, hurried over to Mink’s and slipped underneath his covers while the taller man rearranged his position to give him some space.

“I’m sorry, now it’s totally cramped, and it’s my faul—“  
“Shush. Just relax, Red, breath with me.”  
Koujaku felt a bit awkward whenever Mink felt the need to calm him down like that, but he followed the man’s movement of his chest nonetheless and soon found himself lulled into relaxation. Mink kissed the top of his head as if to reward him and pulled him into a hug.  
“Good night, Red.”

“Good night.”


	5. Brooding

With the bed being too small to fit two grown men comfortably, it was impossible to move around much. Still, Koujaku had no trouble falling asleep as soon as he lay next to Mink. Therefore, he felt rather refreshed when he woke up a couple of hours later. His body hurt somewhat from lying still in the same position for too long, but he could cope with it. He simply got up and stretched his muscles, then looked over his shoulder back at Mink, who seemed a little disgruntled right after waking up.  
Usually, Mink was an early riser, but the jetlag due to different time zones might have gotten to him nevertheless. Or maybe the cramped space had bothered him as well. Speaking in general though, Mink had never given the impression that sleeping in any kind of way or situation was hard for him at all – before going to bed or after getting up. Koujaku still wondered whether the quality of sleep Mink had been able to get out of it was okay.

He knew that even back in Mink’s cabin there were times when he woke up from his sleep for a brief moment and Mink seemed to have been awake the entire time since going to bed. It was like the man was some kind of soldier on the battlefield, who did not dare to fall asleep too deeply in fear of the enemy attacking him and woke up at the tiniest noise or sensation. Plus, Koujaku vaguely remembered that the reason his own sleep becoming interrupted often was, that the other man hugged him too tightly while he slept next to him, like he was afraid of letting go of him. Koujaku was almost sure it had something to do with the armed assault by Toue’s men Mink had to endure in his youth.  
After all there were times when either of them would wake up from having nightmares of their respective pasts haunting their sleep. Koujaku had told Mink about his own past after he had turned berserk right in front of him, but Mink only told him bits and pieces about his old life now and then. Koujaku always got the feeling that he simply should not touch upon the subject on his own accord.  
From the bits and pieces of information he had been able to gather about Mink’s background over time he knew that there had been gunshots, fire, and that Mink had been the sole survivor of the whole ordeal. Aside from Mink’s family, his assigned fiancée had been amongst the dead as well. Koujaku kept wondering whether Mink might not have been old enough to marry her yet when the disaster had come upon his tribe then. If this was the case, Koujaku had a very good idea how very lost and helpless a teenage Mink might have felt around the ashes of his homeland and loved ones alike.

And yet, back in the here and now, Koujaku was the one who had come back crying to Mink after denying his feelings for him first.  
He bit his lower lip, then shook his head.  
He needed to stop that.  
Firstly, these things didn’t have anything to do with each other.  
Secondly, dwelling over past mistakes wouldn’t fix anything in the here and now. It was just important not to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

Koujaku suddenly felt warm fingers brush through his hair and realized Mink standing behind him.  
“Do you want me to braid your hair for you today, Red?”

“Eh?”, Koujaku looked at him, like he was unable to properly fit the question into his thought-process.

Had Mink just offered to do his hair for him? The man had a talent for decorating hair that Koujaku had acknowledged a while ago, and allowed him to braid his hair and to put in ribbons and feathers to Mink’s liking. Now that he thought about it, Mink had not asked to do his hair before they had boarded the plane. Koujaku had blamed it on the stress surrounding getting to the airport in time and such, but his hair being adorned Mink’s way was going to be like putting up a sign that he was close with Koujaku, too, so maybe it had been a consideration on the other man’s part now that he thought about it.  
But now Mink had asked whether he could do his hair again, meaning Aoba would see it definitely, too. This was a chance to redeem himself, Koujaku thought. He opened his mouth, but Mink beat him to it, obviously taking his hesitation to answer him instantly for a sign of rejection.

“Maybe you want to refresh yourself first?” Mink gave him a soft, but somewhat reserved smile. “We still have time until the party starts and the invitation read to go casual style, so we don’t have to hurry.” He turned on his heels and walked over to his suitcase to get something.

“Y-yeah, maybe you’re right. I’m still a bit jet-lagged I guess.”, Koujaku heard himself stutter as he said that, before he went to the bathroom and shut the door behind himself.

He looked at the mirror above the sink and saw his own cowardice reflected in it.  
Why was so easily swayed and couldn’t just have said what he had wanted to instead?  
What was he even afraid of at this point? He should have just blurted out a “yes” on instinct!  
Koujaku wanted to be honest to himself – he did – but everything larger than baby steps seemed to be too much for him to bear and he ducked out of sticking to his decisions the moment even a hint of uncertainty hit him and he spotted another way out of his situation.

He had a hard time coping with the way he was acting now. It felt like he wasn’t himself anymore. But if he tried to analyse his own feelings even deeper, he knew he had lost the feeling of truly wanting to be himself ever since that cursed tattoo had manipulated him into a bloody rampage. Ever since then he had been terrified of himself, of letting out what he truly felt, of crossing lines, of being seen as something monstrous, of hurting people again. He craved to be accepted by others but at the same time couldn’t accept himself anymore. He always felt like he had to hide his true intentions, like it was too dangerous to let others see the truth in his heart. He was trapped in his own insecurity and didn’t know a way out. Therefore, every little thing that could mean changes terrified him.  
He hated himself for being like that.

Koujaku went over to the sink and splashed some ice-cold water on his face, then stared at his reflection in the mirror once more: It showed a deep frown and lips that were tightly pressed together.  
He would ask Mink to braid his hair for fuck’s sake! No going back on his decision again!  
And if Aoba realized his relationship with Mink that way, at least he didn’t have to spell it out to him with words then.  
“…”  
Koujaku opened his mouth, closed it, and doused himself in another handful of cold water.  
He was trying to run away from his own responsibilities again!

He came out of the bathroom after another few minutes of berating himself for being an idiot and hardening his resolve of getting his hair done by Mink.  
Looking up, he stopped dead in his tracks as he spotted Mink fiddling with the buttons on the cuffs of his shirt. The invitation had said to dress casually due to the character of the occasion. Therefore, Mink had chosen to wear a Marsala pink cotton dress shirt, that fit snug to his muscular body but without being too tight. It was accompanied by a pair of beige chinos and brown leather moccasins. His long, wavy hair was done in a half-loose ponytail that kept up his hair enough so the hair ends met with the nape of his neck, but his strands still spilled pretty freely, too. Accentuating Mink’s rather muted outfit were a self-made necklace of blue beads and a single, small feather, and some colourful bracelets. The latter would come out better if his cuffs were pulled up, which seemed to be Mink’s intention, but he looked like he could use a hand to make it actually look like something stylish. Therefore, Koujaku went over to him – after making sure that he didn’t drool like some pervert since his eyes were drawn to the nice cleavage showing a bit of the other man’s cinnamon coloured skin – and helped Mink to hitch up his sleeves till about elbow level. He couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot while doing so, though.

“What’s the matter, Red? You look like you’re scheming something.”  
Mink’s expression was questioning Koujaku’s possible ulterior motives, but he had a rather amused look on his face, too.

Koujaku answered him with a soft laugh: “It’s nothing, you just look good like that.”

Mink let out a chuckle through his nose and then allowed himself a sassy grin as he grabbed a few strands of Koujaku’s loose hair.  
“And you look like you really need to get your hair done now. So what will it be today, Red?”

Koujaku blinked once, but then gave him a broad smile. “I’d like these double braids starting from the hairline, which lead into a larger braided ponytail in the back, with the red ribbon streaking through it.”

Mink rose both eyebrows, then crookedly smiled with just one corner of his mouth.  
“Trying to compete with the bride or something? Do I need to worry about your true feelings towards the maniac after all?”

Even as Mink jokingly said that, he was already on the move to get behind Koujaku to start braiding his hair as requested.

“What?”, Koujaku laughed, “Don’t tell me you are worried?”

Mink let out a dry chuckle.  
“Well, he is rich.”

“And an asshole.”

“He is young.”

“And an annoying brat… Are we really having this conversation right now?”

“No, it’s just in your head, Red.”  
Mink grinned, then smiled warmly, which was reflected in the way he talked.  
“I’m just glad you seem to feel better now.”

Koujaku blushed, then grabbed behind himself and caressingly stroked Mink’s back of the hand.  
“It’s thanks to you.”  
Koujaku heard Mink murmur in a way that meant he took that compliment before he continued doing his lover’s hair.

When the braiding session was over, Mink asked Koujaku if he wanted any feathers to go with it, but the hairdresser said this might overdo it when taking the rest of his planned outfit into consideration.

His hair being done, Koujaku decided to wear a red, snug-fitting sweatshirt with a u-shaped neckline and stylishly frayed hems, accompanied by a pair of dark-grey pants combined with fitting, black boots without laces.  
For accentuation, and since the sleeves of his top slightly reached over his wrists, he decorated one arm with his white praying beads and the other with some metallic bracelets. The red hairpin usually sitting in his hair hung around his neck for a change, because his hairstyle would be overloaded with details if he put it in its usual place. Nevertheless, this hairpin was a memento of his late mother and he didn’t want to go without it.

Judging by the way Mink eyed him when he was done changing, the other man approved of his looks, too.

He kind of felt too causal like this, but the event was going to be a little messy if he had understood its customs correctly from what was written in the invitation and his internet research concerning the matter. And yes, he had at least tried to research it a little, since he didn’t want to be “that one friend” who ruined everything since he did not understand what was going on or something.

Before they left, they grabbed a bag with the old china from their suitcases, which they had decided to break for good luck’s purpose for the bridal couple.

 

Walking down the hallway, they noticed that a murmur hanging in the air between the foot of the stairs and the front door of the house. The large space in between now fit a few tables with a buffet and some glasses filled with champagne, juice, and water. Music was playing in the background, too. Judging by the guests being only equipped with drinks and the fact that Aoba and Noiz were nowhere to be seen, the buffet had probably not been opened yet. Koujaku guessed that would follow up on the breaking of china or something. The event itself seemed to still be in its preparation phase as of yet.

As he walked down the stairs, he was greeted by more and more familiar faces. There were his old gang members Hagima and Kou of course, but also Heibon’s shop owner Haga, his old friend Mizuki and even Clear. He also spotted Tae chatting away with Yoshie next to a table with drinks. Next to the Delivery Works ladies’ feet sat a pretty happy Clara, who was flirting with a somewhat intimidated Ren. Koujaku guessed he might have been placed there in Aoba’s stead to keep an eye on things, or because it was the easiest way to evade Yoshie’s advances on him to take time for a chitchat when he was busy.

Seeing the little robotic Spitz reminded Koujaku that Aoba had told him in a message that they could bring their Allmates if they wanted to and he stopped dead in his tracks.  
“Ah, I totally forgot to bring Beni.”

Just as he was going to turn around, he felt a hand on his shoulder as Mink stood behind him and smiled at him with his eyes.  
“I’ll go get them, Red, just go on ahead.”

Koujaku blinked, since he did not see the need to split up just yet, but then decided to let Mink do him this favour and answered him with a nod before he continued climbing down the stairs while Mink went back to their room.

 

Opening their luggage yet again, Mink found their bird Allmates to appear almost like they were snuggling, even though it was only them taking a sleeping pose how birds would and being stashed away tightly together so as not to take up too much room in the bag.  
He decided to wake up his cockatoo first. The Allmate gave out a low, mechanical sound as he powered up, adjusted his pose to appear sitting up and then opened his eyes.

“Good… evening, Mink. Have we arrived yet?”

Mink gave his mechanical friend another second to update to their current time zone and coordinates, before he gave him a nod.  
“We did. Care to socialize with some other Allmates downstairs?”

Truthfully, he did not have to ask his bird for permission, since the Allmate was technically just a belonging and not a person, but Mink had made friends with the bird over time, especially during the period he had spent alone in his cabin prior to Koujaku’s arrival. He simply had gotten used to his presence, and a while ago, even had given him the delight of a name of his own. It was also more practical than to just call him “hey” or “you”, especially when the number of roommates had gone up by another bird and a person.

“Hmm…”  
Rulacane was still thinking about his answer as he eyed Beni in the bag of luggage next to him.  
“Will the sparrow come, too?”

“I think so.”

Allmates tended to adopt their master’s personality, so going to a party for the sake of going there was most likely out of the question for Mink’s cockatoo. But if it meant to accompany a friend – well, they were more like stepsiblings forced to get along – but even in that case Rulacane might be willing to go if Beni did.

“There is a friend of his I’m sure he’d like to see again.”, Mink added.

“The little doggy?”, Rulacane asked not without a mix of both interest and disappointment.

Mink just nodded and then activated Koujaku’s Allmate Beni, who instantly flapped his wings and chirped away in a shrill, rude voice as soon as he saw Mink instead of his master.

“Huh?! What’s up, youuu? Where’s Koujaku? Are we there yet?”

Rulacane stared at the red sparrow with an amused look as Beni’s eyes darted around curiously.  
“Isn’t your GPS signal telling you this already?”  
The cockatoo caught sight of Mink giving him a silently telling look of “And did you not just ask me the very same thing just a moment ago?”, so Rulacane changed topics.  
“Mink just told me that your little friend is at the party, so I’d recommend to hurry it up.”  
He flapped his wings to take his favourite seat on Mink’s shoulder and Mink offered his palm for the sparrow to sit on, who was fuming at the cockatoo’s comment.

They tried to get along for a while now, but Rulacane’s know-it-all way of speaking still provoked the easily enraged sparrow all too often. Nevertheless, the prospect of seeing Ren again seemed to be inviting enough for Beni to fly up to Mink’s hand and to allow the man to carry him around as he sat there.

 

Going back to the main hall and looking down from the top of the flight of stairs, it didn’t take long for Mink to find Koujaku among the people chatting away downstairs. He spotted him next to Koujaku’s old teammates. They were laughing, probably catching up on some funny stories or the like. Mink wasn’t sure if he should go near them. He didn’t really know any of these people, plus he didn’t want to take away Koujaku’s fun. Rulacane, who was still perched on Mink’s shoulder, watched his master with an inspecting eye and just wondered whether he should encourage him to make a move, when the small, red sparrow beat him to it and took the lead.

“What are you standing around here for, you moron? He’s right over there!”, Beni chirped angrily and pointed towards Ren with his wing, who was on the other side of the room, before he propelled himself in the air and hovered in height of Mink’s eye level. “Ren is right there, so that’s where I’m gonna go! You coming or what?”

Mink stared at the angry puff of feathers for a second, then chuckled. Did he really need a tiny sparrow to make decisions for him now? He continued going down the stairs with Beni leading the way. As soon as he had reached the last step however, the little bird did not wait another second before fluttering over to Ren and shooing Clara out of the way, so he could talk to his dog-friend. The small dog seemed to be very relieved about the change of conversation partners. Mink witnessed the scene with a subtle smirk.

“Ah, I better watch out for the little one so he doesn’t do anything stupid. If you would excuse me…”, Rulacane said and followed after Beni.  
Before Mink had a chance to feel lonely, though, somebody spoke to him out of the blue.

“Mink-san, is that really you?”

The person having spoken to him sounded familiar and happy to see him, and when Mink turned around, a young man with white hair, pink eyes and a yellow scarf around his neck smiled his way. Mink couldn’t put the face to the voice at first, but he remembered the build and the accessory to belong to Clear. He was an odd fellow who Mink recalled to have always worn a gasmask and who addressed Aoba as his “master”. His fighting abilities had been top-notch while he was on their rescue team for Aoba’s grandmother, though. Mink remembered him to have knocked out quite a few of Morphine’s members back then. However, right now he looked like a carefree doofus. Mink even had the ghostly image of flowers swirling around Clear’s head for a moment.

“It’s so good to see you doing well, Mink-san!”, Clear continued without waiting for an answer on his first question and drew close enough to grab and shake Mink’s hand enthusiastically before the other man could react to it. “I was worried when I did not hear anything about you after Oval Tower fell!”

Mink had trouble freeing his unwillingly taken hand from Clear’s vice-like grip, and even a telling, hostile glare towards the young man did not change his situation in the least. Before Mink could try anything else though, he was rescued by none other than the leader of Dry Juice.

“Hey, hey! Easy there, Clear, I’m sure Mink still needs this hand in the future.”, Mizuki said as he tapped Clear’s shoulder and managed to carefully detangle their hands and guide the other away from Mink, telling him he should go over to Beni to say hello to the little bird as well.

Mink couldn’t hide a distrusting look in Clear’s direction even when the other was a few feet away, so Mizuki tried to conciliate.  
“Sorry Mink, Clear sometimes gets too excited when he sees people he cares for.”

Mink clicked his tongue and shook his abused hand once before pretending that there wasn’t any lingering pain left, and made eye contact with Mizuki instead. He knew that Koujaku called the bartender and tattooist one of his close friends, even though he had abducted the blue mullet’s grandmother under Morphine’s influence back in the days. Other than that Mink had not crossed paths with him yet.  
“I can’t remember having gotten on the gasmask’s list of friends.”, Mink grunted and was met with surprise on Mizuki’s site.

“But whenever Clear talks about you, he’s telling me you’re one of his friends.”  
He looked over to Clear and a soft smile tugged on his lips.  
“It wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t know that Clear categorizes lots of people as his friends almost instantly, though.”  
Mizuki’s lime-green eyes darted back to Mink.  
“So, how come you’re here? You aren’t friends with Aoba for sure and it’s the same for Noiz I take it. I kind of heard you came with Koujaku, but it’s still a little odd.”  
The lanky young man eyed him suspiciously with his hands on his hips while trying not to let it show that he had to look up to Mink a little due to a difference in height of eight centimetres.  
“I hear from Koujaku from time to time when he gives me a call during his ‘journey to self-discovery’, but the last update I got on his whereabouts was just ‘somewhere out of Midorijima’.”  
Mizuki crossed his arms over his chest and gave Mink a taxing look.  
“Don’t tell me he has been with you this whole time since he decided to get himself back on track?”

Mink faced Mizuki like he was the biggest annoyance in the whole room. Of course he could have answered him that Koujaku had been staying at his cabin, but he wasn’t sure Koujaku liked to have that out in the open yet if he didn’t mention it on his own. Now that he thought about it, he wondered what kind of excuse Koujaku had fabricated for that kind of question.  
Was Koujaku willing to tell his friends that he lived with him now?  
If so, did he want to disguise it as some kind of necessity on his “journey to self-discovery” as Mizuki had called it?

The redhead got impatient waiting for an answer and Mink decided to just grin at him.  
“Well, I’m here right now, like it or not.”  
Mink concluded the conversation to be over, half-turned away and only murmured in Mizuki’s direction as he passed him by: “If it eases your nerves: I’m not here to make any trouble.”  
Then he went towards the buffet to inspect the drinks offered at the tables, even if he had no real interest in the beverages at all.

Soon after, an old lady joined his side: Aoba’s grandmother. Mink let out a sigh that he wasn’t granted at least five minutes without having to make conversation with somebody else.

The old woman scanned him from head to toe for a moment, then greeted him with a smile.  
“Hello there, Mink. You are looking good, less like some brutish gang leader and more like a proper young man instead.”

Mink rose an eyebrow. This old lady was apparently as fearless as ever. As Tae went for a glass of champagne and swirled its bubbly content lightly inside of her glass, she continued talking to him.  
“I hear you came over here with Koujaku. He’s looking good as well, much better than the last time I saw him.”  
She glanced over at the man in question, who was still joking around with Kou and Hagima, but their group included Mizuki and Clear now, too.  
“You see, I’ve known Koujaku since he was a boy when he became friends with Aoba after he had moved to Midorijima together with his later mother. One day they were called back to the mainland, however, and we heard nothing from them for years. When he finally came back to the island a second time, something was odd about him. We concluded it might have been connected to his beloved mother’s death, but that also meant we couldn’t touch upon the subject on ourselves. He rekindled his friendship with Aoba, smooth-talked women and joked around a lot, but there was always something in his eyes that spoke of great suffering. It dimmed over time, but it kept on burdening his soul.”

Tae took a sip of her drink and then turned around and was about to walk back to her table with the delivery woman and the owner of Heibon when she opened her mouth again.  
“Koujaku often came over for dinner, he was almost like a member of my own family. With Aoba leaving the island, Koujaku seemed to have lost another pillar in his life and that shook him hard. He took to drinking and rowdy behaviour. He was beside himself more often than not. But now”, Tae’s facial features lit up as she watched Koujaku having fun with his old friends, “look at him grinning like an idiot again. His complexion looks good as well. He seems to have healed at least a little.”  
Just when Mink wondered what the old woman had tried to get at, she gave Mink a thankful smile over her shoulder.  
“I’m guessing your influence on him is at least part of the reason for that, so I’m grateful to you, Mink. Keep up doing whatever the two of you are doing and I have a feeling everything will be alright.”  
Tae returned to her table and left Mink with a puzzling feeling.

Mink stared back at the table with the drinks without really caring what he could choose from. So he had managed to stay on the bride’s bad side, had been mocked by the groom, but was on good terms with Aoba’s grandmother apparently. The guy’s friends were suspicious of him, though, or flat out weird.  
He looked at Koujaku over his shoulder.  
He wasn’t sure whether he could really help out Koujaku getting over his nervousness to face the fact that his beloved friend would marry someone else, when he himself was unsure about how he was supposed to portray their relationship. He slightly shook his head and randomly grabbed for a glass on the table.  
His feelings weren’t important here. He would simply watch out for Koujaku on the sidelines, and should he feel like Koujaku needed him, he would be there. His plans hadn’t changed at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you want to see the outfits described, go to [this post on my tumblr](http://nambnb.tumblr.com/post/142170219989/so-i-coloured-this-picture-just-to-see-if-it-would).


End file.
